When it comes to good window design, we can learn from buildings constructed a century ago, before the age of...

I grew up in Berkeley, a city full of buildings designed during the great era of California architects. I especially loved the work of Julia Morgan, whose meticulous detailing and carefully placed openings created spaces that are naturally comfortable and connected to the environment. Modern buildings typically use glazed facades in an effort to bring the outdoors in. But when I'm in these buildings I rarely feel comfortable, nor do I have a sense of connection with the outdoors. What are we missing here? ----- Advertising ----- The era of glass facades that was ushered in by Philip Johnson, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, and their contemporaries would not have been possible without the invention of air-conditioning. Le Corbusier's pioneering Salvation Army building in Paris was comfortable when it was first occupied in the winter of 1933, but it overheated in summer and...